The dramatic downturn in 2011 in the fortunes of Europe’s decade-old common currency, the euro, produced a 90-day tidal wave of events in Italy. The country witnessed the collapse of longtime Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s government, his replacement by nonpartisan leader Mario Monti, and the introduction of sweeping austerity measures intended to restore debt-ridden Italy’s tarnished status within the financially battered European Union.

After being sworn in as prime minister of Italy on Nov. 16, 2011, in Rome, Mario Monti (left) …

Pier Paolo Cito/AP

Italy’s sudden unraveling began when in mid-September it was downgraded by international credit agencies Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s, both citing the country’s debt, its anemic economic growth prospects, and ongoing government instability. Though Italy represented the euro zone’s third largest economy (after Germany and France), its debt was estimated at €1.9 trillion (about $2.57 trillion), some 120% of its GDP.

Until the two scathing report cards were issued, Berlusconi, a 75-year-old billionaire media mogul who had risen to power in 1994 and had led the country for 8 of the previous 10 years, appeared to maintain a solid grip on power, notwithstanding continuing allegations of sexual misconduct and abuse of office. Though his conservative People of Freedom party (PdL), which reclaimed power in 2008, spent much of 2010 and 2011 resisting the corrosive effects of the scandals, few of its members openly rebelled.

The double downgrading, coupled with the precarious status of euro neighbour Greece, dramatically changed the focus, revealing a landscape of fearful investors worried about Italy’s chances of refinancing more than $530 billion in public debt owed in 2012. Yields on the country’s benchmark 10-year bonds began inching toward the 7% levels seen when Greece and Ireland were forced to seek EU bailout funds. Throughout a bleak October and early November, economists debated not only what Italy’s future in the euro was but also whether it could stave off national bankruptcy. Berlusconi was further battered by criticism from esteemed 86-year-old Pres. Giorgio Napolitano, who suggested that the prime minister’s scandal-ridden incumbency was diminishing Italy’s global credibility.

On November 9, as markets continued their plunge and Italian bond issues faltered, Napolitano helped to facilitate Berlusconi’s ouster by elevating Monti, a respected economist and former EU commissioner, to the largely ceremonial post of senator for life. The move gave Italy’s parties a feasible apolitical alternative to Berlusconi in lieu of holding early national elections, seen by economists as a potentially fatal delay, given the widening breadth of the euro crisis. Monti’s ascension immediately triggered a series of defections within Berlusconi’s party and was met with applause from the opposition Democratic Party, which called for Berlusconi to step aside in favour of a technocratic Monti-led cabinet charged with confronting the economic emergency. No longer able to muster a parliamentary majority, Berlusconi reluctantly resigned on November 12, pledging to support Monti’s efforts to keep Italy’s economy afloat.

The unelected Monti and his new cabinet, sworn in four days later, won applause from EU leaders after immediately promising a debt-reduction package intended to balance the Italian budget by 2013. Monti also faced the daunting task of imposing austerity measures in a country with powerful labour unions. His emergency decrees, announced in early December and dubbed the “Save Italy” package, called for a rise in the retirement age, the introduction of pension reform, the imposition of higher property taxes, and an effort to rein in endemic tax evasion. The ambitious plan, fraught with unpopular moves, was intended to save some $40 billion over two years. “We’re faced with an alternative between the current situation, with the required sacrifices, or an insolvent state, and a euro destroyed perhaps by Italy’s infamy,” Monti said bluntly.

Some labour leaders criticized Monti for having targeted the country’s middle class and its blue-collar workforce while failing to rein in political and bureaucratic costs, rated as among the highest in Europe. (To set an example, Monti agreed to forgo his salary as prime minister.) The Roman Catholic Church also questioned the austerity measures, noting that Monti’s corporate and banking-oriented leadership seemed aloof from the well-being of Italy’s families. Industrialists wondered how a package based on cutbacks could stimulate growth and reduce unemployment in an already recession-stricken country. Near year’s end the World Bank ranked the country 87th of 183 in its global “ease of doing business” survey.

Political observers noted that Monti’s nonpartisan government could last only as long as it received majority support from both the left and the right, a prospect seemingly guaranteed only for the duration of the euro crisis. Though Monti had asked for a mandate through spring 2013, which would have marked the end of Berlusconi’s abbreviated term, he was unable to receive a clear promise from the country’s politicians. Nevertheless, he remained undeterred, particularly in his commitment to the euro. “You can do without me, but not without Europe,” Monti said.

Media commentators also continued to rue what they called Italy’s widening social malaise, an unofficial condition that key statistics seemed to bear out. In a country known for large families, the number of single Italians of all ages rose by 39% in the decade (2000–10), according to Censis, a respected statistical agency. Censis also noted that more than 7 million Italians lived alone, or 13.6% of the population over age 15; an additional 3.3 million people aged 65 or older were also on their own.

Reinforcing the gloom, autumn statistics showed that some 27.6% of youths aged 15–24 were unemployed; that age group amounted to 23 million people in a country of 60 million. Gender was also a sticking point. Though more Italian women than men had university degrees, only 46% had jobs, compared with the EU average of 59%. The details of the Berlusconi sex scandals made this gulf even more evident by featuring unemployed young women ready to use any means necessary to get ahead in a society deemed to be hostile to their presence in the mainstream workplace.

Though Emma Marcegaglia, the first woman to lead Confindustria, Italy’s largest association of industrialists, repeatedly blamed this biased mentality in the political arena for helping to make Italy into an “international laughingstock,” her outrage appeared to fall on deaf ears. Monti’s Equal Opportunity Minister Elsa Fornero, appointed in November, expressed “surprise and disappointment” when a delegation of youth leaders named to meet with her did not include a single female representative.

Though Berlusconi was undone by the euro crisis, disenchantment was already evident during May regional elections. In Naples, where underworld corruption had been blamed for an ongoing waste-disposal crisis, Berlusconi’s mayoral candidate was soundly defeated. His party earlier had lost control of Milan, and his Northern League allies were beaten in the party’s critical northern strongholds of Pavia and Novara.

On the foreign policy front, the ouster of Tunisian Pres. Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali and Libyan leader Muammar al-Qaddafi undermined Italy’s efforts to reduce the steady flow of illegal immigrants. With sea-patrol pacts between Libya and Italy in limbo, waves of North African refugees tried to reach Italian shores. Some boats were turned away, while other vessels foundered, producing hundreds of casualties. An estimated 50,000 immigrants passed through the island of Lampedusa, off Sicily; Italy repatriated many of them after a series of violent outbreaks occurred at a holding centre.

In other news, media attention turned to the university city of Perugia, where American student Amanda Knox, convicted of having murdered her British roommate in 2007, saw her controversial verdict overturned in October after a lengthy appeal. In a story that mesmerized domestic and international media, the court ruled that forensic evidence had been mishandled and ordered Knox’s immediate release.

In association football (soccer) news, defending titleholder Inter Milan surrendered its domestic Serie A title to Berlusconi-owned city rival AC Milan. Inter Milan was also unable to defend its Champions League trophy, losing in the quarterfinals to Germany’s Schalke 04.